I thought you wanted real money? You dont? Here.... lemme write you a cheque....

To finish out a week of printable props, a cheque book.

Since we were looking at the British Banking System a few days ago.... why don't I give you Bank of London chequebook to print out and make.  This should make it easier on players and keepers who don't want to keep a whole lot of 'money' on hand, but do want to keep track of how much their characters have spent over the course of the campaign (especially for large purchases).

As a side note, I'd like to recommend The HPLHS Prop Documents CD-ROM.  They have an excellent printable Arkham Bank Checkbook and various Arkham Bank paperwork (along with a host of other props).

Currency Exchange Rate Chart

Continuing the theme of Money and Money-related posts, I was working on a cheat sheet last night so I'll be able to reference exchange rates easily.  While I was doing that, I started thinking, "Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits deals with a number of different governments daily.  Their trains cross international borders with relative ease constantly, and their passengers are going to need and expect certain services, such as being able to engage in currency exchange"

With that in mind, I started thinking about what I could put together that would help other Keepers, and Players - how about a cheat sheet that "looks good/thematic.  The kind of thing that a Keeper could have posted as a 'player handout', and use at the same time"?

I used the previously referenced Guttags Foreign Currency and Exchange Guide to try to figure out the exchange rates.  In most instances, I rounded it off to the nearest for easy calculation.  I think I figured it generally right.... anyway.  I used the guide to make this cheat sheet/poster.

Print it off on an 11"x17" sheet of paper or card stock.  Laminate if needed.

Currency Exchange Chart

Some thoughts on the British Banking System

While trying to come up with some printable British pound notes (and researching the British monetary system in general), I found the following article in Chaosiums “Kingdom of the Blind” (Also Available as a PDF).  I can’t recommend this book enough, especially for people who don’t live in the UK (such as me).  As Horror on the Orient Express begins and ends in England, it just makes sense that a keeper needs to do some research to create the best world possible, and this book is marvelous in that capacity.

Though it is considered a rich nation, in the United Kingdom the inflations of the 1920s caused by the war and later, the return to the gold standard (which overvalued the pound sterling internationally), meant the average Britons income was something less than that of their American cousins.  While resulting in fewer of the frivolities and entertainments afforded those living in the United States, contrary to belief it was hard to starve in the UK - even if most things grew more expensive, food got steadily cheaper.

Of particular concern to modern players (and non-British investigators) is the UK's money system.  Considering the metric system an alien curio, the British Isles sticks with its pounds sterling, divided into Pounds, Shillings and Pence (written as £/S/D or spoken aloud as LSD).

20 shillings make one pound, and 12 pence make a shilling, resulting in 240 pennies to the pound.  Prices were written in numerous ways, but most commonly as £8/4/- (eight pounds and four shillings), or "2/6" (two shillings and six pence), for example.

Farthing	1/4D
Halfpenny (ha’penny)	½ D
Penny	1D
Three-penny bit/thruppence	3D
Sixpence	6D
Shilling (Bob)	1/-
Two shillings (Florin)	2/-
Half-crown	2/6
Crown	5/-
Sovereign	£1/-/-
Guinea	£1/1/-

Each coin featured the head of the monarch on one side, and Britannia on the obverse (although a number of coins broke this convention).  Unlike the others, which were made of copper alloys, the Sovereign was made of gold, and though meant to adhere to the gold standard (£1=$4.8) it was actually worth quite a bit more than its legal tender.  Note too that there is no Guinea coin: instead it’s a name for £1/1/- and often used for expensive items like pianos, horses and sometimes houses or rented accommodations.

 

Ten shilling note (introduced in 1928)	10/-
One pound note (introduced in 1928)	£1/-/-
Five pound note	£5/-/-
Ten pound note	£10/-/-

Notes (bills in US English) were black and white and only printed on one side, at least up until the introduction of the double-sided colour notes in 1928.  This year also saw the introduction of the 10/- and £1 notes.  Anything larger than a £1 note is unlikely to be tended (or get change) and even if taken, users may be asked to sign the back.  Within the banking system notes up to a million pounds were circulated, but these weren’t released for public use.  While the Bank of England has the monopoly on notes in England and Wales, prior to 1921, the Somerset bank “Fox, Fowler and Company” were entitled to print their own money under a quirk of historical law.  These were technically still legal tender until used and some may have remained uncashed well into the 1930s.

Now, industrious keepers (or players) might want to download this .zip file, and use it to make some coins and notes.  Use your favourite photo manipulation software to resize the images to suit your purposes (while remaining within the bounds of the laws that bind you), then print them out and glue the coin images to some steel washers available from your local DIY store (Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc).  It would probably be smart to use coloured paper, and size things in such a way that no-one can ever accuse you of counterfeiting.  Enjoy!

The Yugoslavian Dinar and Exchange Rates

A while back, we looked at Exchange Rates.  Today I'm looking at the Yugoslavian Dinar, and because of that, understanding exchange rates is important.

Until 1918, the dinar was the currency of Serbia.  It then became the currency of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, circulating alongside the krone in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 1 dinar = 4 kronen.  The first coins and banknotes bearing the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were issued in 1920, until which time Serbian coins and banknotes circulated.  In 1929, the name of the country changed to Yugoslavia and this was reflected on the currency.

In my campaign, I've been planning on using an exchange rate of about $4.8/$5 for each £1 (based on info found in Guttags Foreign Currency and Exchange Guide - screen shots below for convenience).

Based on this information,  $4.8 for each £1 (I'm rounding it to $5 = £1 for simplicity),  

5дин is worth about $1, so 25дин is worth about £1

In my quest to bring the Horror on the Orient Express campaign to life, heres Printable Yugoslavian/Serbian Dinars.

Swiss Franks

While your players are in Switzerland, they'll need money.  Someone wants to sell them the Scroll of the Head, yes?  And they might want to tip someone for helping them keep an eye on something.  Or pay for meals.  Lets face it, you cant get along in the world without a little money, so here.... have a little money.

Now, you might want to resize these to avoid local counterfeiting laws.  Or print them on strange coloured paper.  These are intended for prop use only.

Prop Swiss Franks

Exchange Rates

As the investigators travel across Europe, its likely that they'll have to exchange moneys.  Today, we're used to the idea of Europe using a unified currency - the Euro.  In the past, it wasnt so easy.  The British have the Pound Sterling, the French use Francs, Italians are all about their Lira, the Germans are struggling with massive inflation and the Reichsmark.

Well..... heres a copy of Guttags Foreign Currency and Exchange Guide.  It has far more information about monetary exchange rates than any investigator or keeper are likely to ever need.  So it might prove to be a handy resource.

Guttags Foreign Currency and Exchange Guide

Something for Investigators and Keepers to keep in mind, the book is just a guide.  Local exchange rates may vary wildly, and public perception about government stability may lead to people using entirely different rates because of a preference for a more stable currency (Example: In Italy, the 'official' exchange rate between a dollar and a lira might be about $0.20 for 1 lira, or 5 lira for a dollar, but the unofficial exchange rate might be 10 lira for a dollar, because the Dollar is perceived to be a more stable currency).